World news | The Guardian

Placing of Riek Machar under house arrest comes after period of rising tensions and armed clashesSouth Sudan's first vice-president and main opposition leader, Riek Machar, has been placed under house arrest, prompting a warning from the UN that the country is at risk of relapsing into widespread conflict.Machar's party said the arrest has effectively collapsed the peace deal that ended the 2013-2018 civil war. Continue reading...

Samuel Bottomley, 23, to tutor on courses at West Yorkshire Workshop, aimed at working-class actors in north of EnglandA Bafta-nominated actor from Bradford has launched his own drama school to help working-class northern English talent access the TV and film industry.The West Yorkshire Workshop in Bradford was opened this week by 23-year-old Samuel Bottomley, who received a Bafta nod for his role in Channel 4's Somewhere Boy in 2023. Continue reading...

While many in Brazil delight at the ex president's predicted downfall, others fear who may follow in his far-right footstepsThere were cries of joy in progressive parts of Rio on Wednesday as Brazil's supreme court ruled that the former president Jair Bolsonaro should stand trial for an alleged coup plot.No amnesty! No amnesty!" one elated lefty roared from his balcony into the sunny autumn afternoon. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Katy Gallagher says if Peter Dutton cuts, you will pay' as Albanese government analysis shows opposition pledge would mean worsened services

After pulling out of the market Squid is charging parents who want to withdraw their remaining fundsA payments company that was used by parents to pay for school dinners has drawn criticism for charging them 10 to withdraw the remaining funds in their accounts after it pulled out of the market.Squid, which was used by 600 schools around the UK to take payments, stopped its service earlier this month after announcing in February that the accounts would be ending. Continue reading...

Soldiers had worked for extremely sensitive and important units' and their acts betrayed the country', Taipei court saysA Taiwan court has sentenced four soldiers, including three who worked in the president's security team, to jail for up to seven years on charges of spying for China.The men were convicted of violating the national security law by passing internal military information that should be kept confidential to Chinese intelligence agents for several months" between 2022 and 2024, the Taipei district court said on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Jacinta Allan shares footage of curious young male feline strolling on to the 6.05 service from St Albans

Attorney general says hacker gained unlawful entry to state's Justice Link system and accessed 9,000 files, which could include victim details

A man watching a comedy gig has died after suffering a medical emergency in a packed theatre on the opening night of a major festival

App to also show land borders for Indigenous protected areas and reserves following similar updates in Canada and the United States in 2023

Two characters in the troubled Ratliff family are Duke alumni, but the association has displeased the US university

Caitlin Cassidy translates the prime minister's use of gen Z phrases for Catie McLeod

Axa and Scottish Widows back ShareAction campaign for chains such as Next to pay at least 12.60 an hourMajor investors including Axa and Scottish Widows are backing shareholder resolutions pressing retailers Next, Marks & Spencer and JD Sports to increase pay for thousands of workers.More than 100 individuals and eight institutional investors, which manage over 1tn in assets, are backing an effort to encourage companies to pay a real living wage", which is designed to ensure workers can cover necessary household costs. Continue reading...

Watchdog finds forces are overwhelmed' by common offences, and victims are being failedOverworked police lack the resources, time and experience to investigate crimes properly, leading to victims being failed and an erosion in faith in law enforcement, an official report has found.The report by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) says that the rate of positive outcomes - when police identify a suspect and they face justice - has crashed from 25% in England and Wales a decade ago to 11% in 2024. Continue reading...

Letter from Knesset members addressed to Queensland LNP backbencher Andrew Wallace was distributed at event he hosted, attended by several Coalition MPs and senators

The rise in housing costs has been extraordinary. The growth in population has not

Victim died at the scene after being struck by a vehicle that failed to stop in EdgwareTwo men have been arrested after a fatal collision involving a car that was driving away from police.The Metropolitan police said the vehicle hit a pedestrian at about 2.10pm on Tuesday in Edgware, north-west London. Continue reading...

US army says search efforts are ongoing after Nato secretary general tells reporters servicemembers were killed'The vehicle of four United States soldiers missing in Lithuania has been discovered submerged in water, the US army said, adding that search efforts for the soldiers were ongoing.The soldiers went missing during a military drill during an exercise at the General Silvestras ukauskas training ground in Pabrad, a town located less than 10km (6 miles) from the border with Belarus. Continue reading...

The duo will join Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd, Letitia Wright, Vanessa Kirby and many more in Avengers: DoomsdayPatrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are set to reprise their X-Men roles in Avengers: Doomsday.Marvel kicked off a live stream today to announce the long list of actors who will star in the first Avengers film in six years. Continue reading...

Chancellor promises compensation' for information on tax-dodgers, based on US model, in move to close 1bn tax gap'Whistleblowers who inform HMRC about tax-dodging will get a cut of any money collected as a result, the government confirmed, as Rachel Reeves announced plans to raise an extra 1bn a year by closing the tax gap".At her first budget in October, Reeves vowed to collect 6.5bn a year by cracking down on tax avoidance, which is legal, and tax evasion, which isn't.Spending 100m on 500 HMRC compliance stafff87m to improve HMRC's debt collectionProsecuting 20% more tax fraudstersCompensation" for whistleblowers Continue reading...

Chancellor says new money will help turn Britain into a defence industrial superpower'New money for drones and laser weapons to revolutionise" Britain's armed forces has been announced by Rachel Reeves as part of a 2.2bn rise in defence spending.Vowing to turn the UK into a defence industrial superpower", the chancellor used her spring statement to unveil plans aimed at boosting arms exports and reaching a target of spending 2.7% of GDP on the sector by 2027. Continue reading...

Company suspends dividend payouts after shares dip by 8% with profits down by more than a third

A disabled man considers the potential impact that losing disability benefits could have on his lifeIt's just hours since the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered her spring statement, which saw disability benefits slashed, and Lee, a 43-year-old man with autism is weighing the damage.I stand to lose so much," he said. If all these cuts happen, I could end up homeless. I'm going to lose my independence, I'm going to lose basically everything." Continue reading...

Fact that chancellor swerved climate crisis and net zero targets suggests sector has avoided the axe for nowThe climate crisis, the UK's target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions and the green economy received not a single mention in Rachel Reeves's spring statement on Wednesday.To green experts, this absence came almost as a relief, given that the chancellor was taking an axe to so many other aspects of public spending. There are still no guarantees that green investment will not be quietly cut in the near future. Continue reading...

Bloc's first preparedness strategy urges people to prepare for floods, fires, pandemics or military strikesPeople in the EU are being advised to stockpile enough food, water and essentials for 72 hours as part of a European strategy that aims to increase readiness for catastrophic floods and fires, pandemics and military attacks.Outlining its first preparedness strategy, the European Commission said it wanted to encourage citizens to take proactive measures to prepare for crises, such as developing household emergency plans and stockpiling essential supplies". Continue reading...

Hamdan Ballal says Israeli soldiers beat him with their rifle butts and threatened to kill himThe Oscar-winning Palestinian film director Hamdan Ballal has said that Israeli settlers who attacked him were aided by two Israeli soldiers, who beat him with the butt of their rifles outside his home and threatened to kill him.In an interview with the Guardian, Ballal, one of the four directors of the film No Other Land, which documents the destruction of villages in the West Bank and won best documentary at this year's Academy Awards, recounted how on Monday two Israeli soldiers first encircled him while a settler was assaulting him, before violently striking him on the head and threatening to shoot him. Continue reading...

Supreme court judges decide former president should face criminal prosecution alongside seven close alliesBrazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro will stand trial for allegedly orchestrating a violent plot to seize power through a military coup, after the country's supreme court decided he should face criminal prosecution.The ruling leaves the far-right populist, who governed Brazil from 2019 until the end of 2022, facing political oblivion and a possible jail sentence of more than 40 years. Continue reading...

Judge rules that law banning school libraries and classrooms from carrying books depicting sex acts had been applied unconstitutionallyA lawsuit brought by publishers and authors including John Green and Jodi Picoult has led to a portion of a law banning Iowa school libraries and classrooms from carrying books depicting sex acts being halted.On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the measure, writing that it had been applied unconstitutionally in many schools and that books of undeniable political, artistic, literary, and/or scientific value" had been caught up in it, including Ulysses by James Joyce, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Continue reading...

Opposition leader in a bind after Coalition votes against Labor's income tax cuts

Researchers say findings challenge myth' about monogamy while also showing no significant gap in sexual satisfactionNon-monogamous people are just as happy in their love lives as those with only one partner but are not significantly" more sexually satisfied than traditional couples, research suggests.Polyamory, open relationships and swinging are among the many forms of consensual non-monogamy. Polyamory has become increasingly mainstream, with a recent poll showing that one in 25 Britons have experienced it. A further one in 14 said they would be open to exploring it. Continue reading...

Slow-moving trough drags tropical moisture inland, dumping widespread heavy rain onto an already saturated landscape, Bureau of Meteorology says

Regulator finds people spending money on acupuncture and drugs when undergoing IVF or donor inseminationAlmost three-quarters of people undergoing fertility treatment in the UK are using unproven extras" to increase their chances of having a baby, despite little evidence that they work.The findings, from the UK's fertility watchdog, mean that about 40,000 people a year wanting to conceive are spending money on acupuncture, supplements and drugs, even though they are largely unproven.Some patients are facing increasingly long waits for care, of up to two years, especially for NHS fertility treatment.51% of patients who used donor sperm got it from abroad, where rules on the maximum number of families that can be created by one donor are looser than in the UK.While 73% of patients are satisfied with their fertility treatment, Asian and black patients are less likely to be satisfied. Continue reading...

Denial of compensation for Raymond Lee, denied re-entry to UK in after 2019 trip to Jamaica, deemed legal error' by judgeWindrush scandal victims who have been denied compensation could see their cases reconsidered after a landmark ruling against the Home Office.Raymond Lee, 67, was returning from a trip to Jamaica in 1999 when he was denied re-entry to the UK, detained and removed, separating him from his family and putting him out of work. Continue reading...

Messages inadvertently shared with Atlantic journalist lays bare the unvarnished truth about how Vance and Hegseth feel about European alliesIf Europe wasn't already on notice, the extraordinary leak of deliberations by JD Vance and other top-level Trump administration officials over a strike against the Houthis in Yemen was another sign that it has a target on its back.The administration officials gave Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic a front-row seat to the planning for the strike against the Houthis - a stunning intelligence leak that has caused anger against Republicans who called for criminal investigations against Hillary Clinton and others for playing fast and loose with sensitive information. Continue reading...

Canadian PM makes remarks on visit to Newfoundland town that sheltered US airline passengers after attacksMark Carney has lamented Canada's lost friendship with the United States as he visited the town that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks.The Canadian prime minister's visit to Gander, Newfoundland, on the second day of a national election campaign comes against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Participants in pain management programme said singing and breathing exercises eased their symptomsWales is famed as the land of song, the music of the valleys and mountains providing a source of pride, joy and a sense of belonging.But a pioneering project led by Welsh National Opera has suggested music can also help people suffering with persistent pain. Continue reading...

Scientists say widespread damage to both world heritage-listed reefs is heartbreaking' as WA reef accumulates highest amount of heat stress on record

Prosecutors dropped case against Jamila A after protracted legal battle over tweet about footballer Alexander IsakA 22-year-old black student has accused police and prosecutors of misusing hate speech laws intended to protect minorities after she was charged for using the N-word in a tweet.Jamila A, who lives in London, was charged under the Communications Act 2003 in July 2023 after referring to the black Newcastle United footballer Alexander Isak as a nigga" in a tweet. Continue reading...

The 17-year-old was originally charged with 12 Victorian offences but is now facing further federal charges

Latest overpayment figures bring total number falling foul of cliff-edge' rules on earnings to 144,000More than 9,000 unpaid carers looking after ill and disabled loved ones have become the latest to be hit with carer's allowance overpayment debts in the past year, prompting calls for ministers to suspend the controversial practice.While the government has promised to tackle the carer's allowance scandal and launched a review, the latest figures show carers continue to be unwittingly caught by the system, landing them with debts often running into thousands of pounds. Continue reading...

Family describe student Aalia Mahomed, 20, as a kind and beautiful soul' as Met says incident not terrorism-relatedA woman who was killed when a van was driven on to a pavement in Aldwych, central London, has been named as Aalia Mahomed, a physics and philosophy student.The 20-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene near King's College London (KCL) at about midday on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Administrators say unsecured creditors also including landlords and charities will get only between 16% and 27%The Body Shop's suppliers, including small charities, local councils and cosmetics manufacturers, are to receive no more than about a quarter of the 219m owed to them when the ethical beauty retailer fell into administration, a report has said.The retailer, founded by Anita Roddick in 1976, now operates about 113 UK stores after it was rescued from administration by a consortium led by the British cosmetics tycoon Mike Jatania in September last year, saving 1,300 jobs. Continue reading...

Artist behind giant piece of land art made using ancient Cornish hedging technique says work is a message to future generationsIt is an intriguing piece of land art, a hymn to the almost-lost craft of Cornish hedging and also - perhaps - an optimistic message from the early 21st century to future generations.As the sun rose over Bodmin Moor on spring equinox morning, a Cornish bagpipe struck up and Kerdroya, five years in the making and built to last four millennia, was officially opened. Continue reading...

Shaftesbury Capital sells stake in estate, which includes shops, market and transport museum site

After years of controversy regarding poor conditions, the site will no longer house asylum seekers from SeptemberNapier barracks, one of the first mass accommodation sites opened to house asylum seekers, is to be closed after years of controversy about conditions there, including a mass Covid outbreak, decrepit facilities and far-right protests.The news is buried in a Home Office document uploaded to parliament's cross-party home affairs committee on Tuesday as part of an investigation into the provision of asylum accommodation. In the document the Home Office states: The Home Office intend to occupy and deliver services at Napier until September 2025, at which point the site will be handed back to the Ministry of Defence." Continue reading...

Prime minister defends changes to welfare system but Labour MPs struggle to digest plans for disability paymentsThe rising benefits bill is devastating for public finances" and has wreaked a terrible human cost", Keir Starmer has said as he defended the government's drastic changes to the welfare system.Writing in the Times, the prime minister said the facts are shocking", noting one in eight young people are not in education, employment or training and 2.8 million working age people are out of work because of long-term sickness. Continue reading...

Shortly after call ended, about 45 drones targeted region around Kyiv with anti-aircraft fire audible across capital overnight

Investigation will not examine whether laws should be repealed, despite crossbench members' concerns they may have been misled'

South-west sees biggest jump, up 17% between 2020 and 2024, while rate in southern England increases by 10%Smoking rates in parts of England have increased for the first time in nearly two decades, according to research.Academics at University College London examined smoking data for more than 350,000 adults in England over an 18-year period. They found that while the proportion of adults who smoke cigarettes, pipes, cigars or other forms of tobacco fell from 25.3% of the population in 2006 to 16.5% in 2024, progress since 2020 has flatlined and in some areas smoking rates are increasing again. Continue reading...